ALEXANDER MITCHELL, DORNOCH, JAILED FOR SEXUAL OFFENSES INVOLVING MINORS

In February 2017, Alexander Mitchell, a 23-year-old from Dornoch in Sutherland, was sentenced to six years in prison after previously being convicted of sex offenses. The court heard that Mitchell had raped a 12-year-old girl in Ross-shire after violating bail conditions which prohibited him from being near girls under 16. During the sentencing at Glasgow's High Court, Lord Boyd described Mitchell’s actions: "You asked a 12-year-old girl to climb in your bedroom window and took advantage of her and raped her. At the time, you were on bail for having sex with two 13-year-olds. You have an obvious interest in underage girls." He noted that Mitchell was assessed as posing a high risk to young girls and ordered him to be monitored in the community for two years post-release, as well as placing him on the sex offenders register. The offense involved Mitchell contacting his victim via social media, convincing her to climb through a window into a house in Easter Ross, despite court-imposed restrictions. When police responded to reports of a girl climbing in through a window, Mitchell appeared nervous and fidgety; he claimed no one else was in the house. The girl initially lied about the incident, but in March last year, she confided to a social worker that Mitchell had raped her in June 2014 at a house near Invergordon, an admission she made out of fear of trouble. Mitchell pleaded guilty to the rape, which took place when she was 12, and has prior convictions for sexual offenses. No emotion was shown as he was taken into custody.

In January 2017, Mitchell, still 23, had been granted bail after court appearances in Inverness for similar offenses, with a condition to avoid contact with females under 16. Despite this, he raped the same girl while on bail, after making contact via social media, and then going with her to a relative’s house in a Highland village. Police arrived at that address following reports that the girl had climbed in through a window. Mitchell, who answered the door appearing nervous, claimed there was no one else there. Officers saw a girl lying on a bed and a used condom on the floor, which DNA evidence later linked to her. Her account of the events was only revealed in March last year during a social worker interview. He was convicted of raping her on June 15, 2014, and was remanded pending a background report, with his name on the sex offenders register.

In September 2014, Mitchell, then 20 and serving a 12-month detention for sex with two underage girls, appeared in Inverness Sheriff Court for breaching a court order. He had failed to register his details, including his address, as required by the Sexual Offenders Act, within three days of moving. Sheriff Sutherland sentenced him to two months’ detention to run concurrently with his existing sentence.

Earlier in July 2014, Mitchell was sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders institution for having sex with two underage girls—one aged 14 and the other 15. The court had initially deferred sentencing until July 2014 to allow for social work reports, but Mitchell committed additional offenses during that period. He admitted to unlawful sex with the girls, including an incident involving the 14-year-old at a house in Milton and a sexual encounter with the 15-year-old near Alness Parish Church. The judge emphasized the seriousness of the offenses, stating, "Young girls ought to be protected. I don’t consider that I can deal with this case other than by a custodial sentence." Mitchell, who had previously shown little record of offending, was immediately placed on the sex offenders register and ordered to serve his time in custody.